By "mousse", and espeically by "dessert mousse", there is usually understood a cold, foamed dessert, which in some cases can also be frozen, but in contrast to a whipped cream, has a certain pudding-like solidity and retains this structure for at least a few hours. Chocolate mousse (Mousse au chocolat), for example, is well-known and quite popular, being a specialty of many homemakers and numerous restaurants. Usually chef or home-made chocolate mousse is prepared a few hours before consumption. The process consists of first suspending slab chocolate or cooking chocolate in water or milk on a waterbath and stirring the suspension until it becomes smooth, adding egg yolks, while stirring continuously, mixing the mass with stiffly whipped egg whites and/or whipped cream and leaving it to cool. This preparation requires quite a bit of time and a great degree of skill so that the whipped mousse does not break down to an unattractive, sticky mass.
In order to make this preparation simpler and risk-free, dried powdered products which have been commercially available for a relatively long time, have been used. These powdered products can be whipped up with cold milk to a dessert mousse in the same way as a powdered product can be used for the preparation of whipped cream. Such instant mousse powders for chocolate mousse generally consist of a mixture of cocoa powder, chocolate powder, sugar, and powdered fat which can be whipped up with flavor extracts, emulsifiers and colorings. These products, which are convenient to handle and generally easy to prepare, are quite popular, especially in the catering industry. However, the sensory quality of the mousse obtainable therefrom is poorer than that of a freshly prepared mousse. The powdered product generally results in a less flavorful, overly aerated mousse which does not have the smooth, creamy consistency of the home-made product. A prepared product with the sensory qualities of a home-made mousse would be a desirable improvement over known powdered products.